Shonn Greene denies that he wants Mark Sanchez to be replaced

New York Jets running back Shonn Greene did not have many nice things to say about teammate Mark Sanchez during his interview with Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday, but at least he attached his name to the quotes. Greene said he felt badly for Sanchez, but it seemed clear that he believes the Jets need to give Tim Tebow a shot given their 3-6 record with Sanchez starting this season.

On Thursday, Greene said that isn’t what he meant at all and that his words were twisted.

“What the quotes were was completely out of context,” Greene said according to Newsday. “What I said was, ‘We’re 3-6 and things need to change.’ I said nothing about changing quarterback, nothing about any single person on this team. I’ve been here four years. I’ve never once said anything about anybody on this team.”

Here is Greene’s exact quote from the Yahoo! Sports story. You be the judge.

“Something’s got to change. When you get to the point where you’re 3-6, and losing and losing, a couple of guys are like, ‘Oh, what would happen?’ But guys at the same time have faith in Mark, so it’s kind of an up-and-down thing. You feel bad for Mark, but at the same time, you want to win games. We’re not here to protect people’s feelings. If you want to win games, you’ve got to try something. If somebody’s not getting the job done, you see if somebody else can do it. It’s the same with coaching, or any position. You don’t mean to belittle someone … That’s just the harsh reality.”

I guess technically he didn’t come out and say “bench Sanchez,” but who else would he be talking about? Again, at least Green was willing to attach his name to it unlike the anonymous Jets players who blasted Tebow, so there’s no need for retired veterans to be throwing accusations around in this case. However, Greene insisting he was not saying New York needs a change at quarterback is very hard to believe after reading the quote.